that work has to be done. but at least we will have avoided the cliff. mr. president, by a twist of fate, the occupant of the chair is my colleague and friend, the senator from connecticut, so like -- you've probably seen these numbers, but just to bring it home in one state, what will be the impact if we go over -- if we allow the country to go over the fiscal cliff. in connecticut, 1.4 million middle-class families will see their federal income taxes increase. almost a million and a half families. if the middle-class tax cuts are allowed to expire on january 1, a median-income connecticut family -- now, i know this -- the median in connecticut is higher than it is in most other states, but this number's true for any family making this amount of money, it makes an important point. a family of four earning $86,000 a year happens to be the immediatmedianfamily income in , but that family, which i think would be considered median just about everywhere, middle income just about everywhere, would see its federal income taxes rise by $2,200. that's a lot of money